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When feelings of sadness and loss take over, I find what helps me get out of that mindset is doing something nice for someone else. Last week when I spoke with my daughter and heard her stressing about her move from one part of Manhattan to another, I did the first thing that came to mind: I booked a flight to help her.

It was an easy decision because I had a $500 voucher which made the cost of my last minute flight very inexpensive. When I arrived at the airport early in the morning and checked in, I noticed that I didn’t have a seat assignment and asked the agent what to do. She handed me a ticket marked “8 C” and I boarded the plane. Moments later, another passenger approached me and said that I was in her seat. Turns out, we were both assigned 8C. That same gate agent (angel number one) came to me and bumped to first class! What a nice surprise! .

On my second flight, I was seated at the window next to an older couple named Jack and Gloria (angels two and three) . They were absolutely delightful. About an hour or two into our five hour flight, we began chatting, and continued talking until we landed. It was amazing how the time had flown! As they walked off to await their plane to Lisbon, they each gave me a hug. As I looked back, they stood waving to me. Truly, that was not your typical flight experience!

The weekend move went very well with the help of our dear friend Josh, and two great movers (angles four, five and six). Once all of Alex’s belongings made it to the new apartment, we realized we needed to get a few pieces of furniture and so we scanned the Craigslist ads. Alex located a bookcase a few blocks away… and then a side table about 14 blocks away. The owner of the table, Louise, (angel number seven) said it wasn’t too heavy so we marched off to get it.

When we arrived at Louise’s apartment, it was clear that she was also moving. She is from England, works for the UN, and is being moved back to the middle east and she was getting rid of a lot of stuff. It took some work to get the table out of her apartment and soon we were on the street trying to carry it home. We’d only gone about a block before we were both panting and sweating and almost in tears about our insane plan.

About then, a lady approached us and commented on Alex’s dog, Bennet. Yes, we were trying to move a table and walk the dog at the same time! Totally crazy. The lady, Sally, (angel number 8) looked at us and asked if we were okay. I told her, “not really” and explained our predicament. Sally mentioned a service that would help us move… and we thanked her and she walked away. A moment later, she was back and offered to bring us a dolly that we could use to move the table. Honestly, I wanted to hug her! With Sally’s dolly we were able to wheel the table home in no time. Crisis averted!

Clearly, we have been blessed with angels on this journey. To begin offering thanks for our good fortune, I made Louise an apple pie. We called ahead and when we met her at the door, I presented it. I explained my gratitude project and told her how grateful we were for her gifts. Louise told us that this was her first “American” apple pie and I’m so very glad that I was able to make that happen.

We still have a little more work to be done before the nesting process is complete and there’s an apple pie in the oven to thank angel number nine right now.

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:2